Essay on American Indians - 704 Words

amp;#8220;amp;#8217;Indiansamp;#8217;: Textualism, Morality, and the Problem of History;, an essay written by Jane Tompkins, a professor of English at Duke University, outlines Tompkins dissatisfaction on how American Indians are portrayed throughout history. As children, we are taught that in amp;#8220;1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue;, and that Peter Minuet bought all of Manhattan Island from the Indians for only twenty-four dollars worth of trinkets. In high school, we were taught that in World War II, the Germans were all heartless savages, and that the best course of action to end the war was to use the atomic bomb on Japan. It is seen that amp;#8220;the victor writes the history books.; In other words, the dominant†¦show more content†¦Tompkins began her research of the misrepresentation of American Indians with Perry Milleramp;#8217;s book Errand into the Wilderness. In his book, Miller writes, amp;#8220;the massive narrative of the movement of European culture int o the vacant wilderness of America.; This passage from Milleramp;#8217;s book provokes a shocking response from Tompkins. Tompkins is shocked that Miller referred to Americaamp;#8217;s wilderness as amp;#8220;vacant.; It is obvious that upon the arrival of European settlers to America, the settlers encountered the Indians at some point in time. Thus, Americaamp;#8217;s wilderness wasnamp;#8217;t amp;#8220;vacant.; Miller fails to observe the presence of the Indians. From his own personal experiences with the vast wilderness in Africa, Miller correlates that experience to the experiences that the settlers must have had when they arrived in America. It is clear that Milleramp;#8217;s own experiences have clouded his ability to give an unbiased and totally truthful account of history. amp;#8220;amp;#8230; What is invisible to the historian in his own historical moment remains invisible when he turns his gaze to the past,; (Tompkins, 412). nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;The book, New England Frontier: Puritan and Indians, by Alden Vaughan, reconciled Milleramp;#8217;s position on the presence of Indians in American history. Vaughanamp;#8217;s book describes the interactions between theShow MoreRelatedIndian American Communication : Indian Americans1547 Words   |  7 PagesIndian-American Communication Indian-Americans are people who either originated themselves or descend from an ancestor who was born in India. The dynamics in a home where parents are native Indians and the children are first generation born Indian-Americans are quite different from other hyphenated American cultures. 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